Pictures and facts about the African wild dog

Pictures of the African wild dog are copyrighted by their owners

African wild dog

Order : Carnivora
Family : Canidae
Species : Lycaon pictus

Reaching a length of up to 100 cm and a weight of 35 kg, the African hunting dog (Lycaon pictus), which is also simply called Wild dog, is about the size of a small Wolf. Its fur is of dark colour, which is softened by yellowish, brownish and white spots. Its ears are etraordinarily large. At first glance there is a certain resemblance between African hunting dogs and Hyenas concerning the appearance. But they are not closely related to Hyenas except the fact that both are carnivores; African hunting dogs are "real" dogs, whereas the closest relatives of Hyenas are Viverrids.
Many horror stories about African hunting dogs have been spread: It was said that they kill much more prey than they are able to eat, drive all antilopes out of large areas and are even dangerous to man. In this context the African hunting dog could be called the "African wolf", since many negative myths have grown up around the Wolf too. Most of this is pure fiction or grossly exaggerated. Not only concerning there negative image there are similarities between African hunting dogs and Wolves: Both canids live and hunt in packs. In African hunting dogs as well as in Wolves there are distinct gender specific hierarchies. This means that the males as well as the females have there own dominance relations. But those are not as obvious in African hunting dogs as in Wolves. There is much harmony among the members of an African hunting dog pack and each member seems to be able to play different roles within the pack.

Fostering of good social relations is of great importance for the survival of each member of an African hunting dog pack. Only a harmonizing pack is able to hunt successfully and defend its prey against Hyenas. The size of the pack seems to be decisive concerning its success; packs with just a few members lose a larger portion of their prey to Hyenas than packs with many members. Cubs and pack members, which are not able to hunt, are supplied with meat by the other members. Raising the cubs - there may be 16 in a single litter - demands all available help. Also the males make a contribution to that job and are able to raise older cubs without female help in cases of emergency.

African hunting dogs are very skilled hunters. Mostly the hunting is lead by a single or a few dogs, whereas the rest of the pack follows in a certain distance. If the potential prey tries to break out, a dog from the background blocks off its way. African hunting dogs are hunting with much perseverance; a hunting can be expanded over several kilometres and the dogs hunt at an average speed of about 50 km/h. The prefered prey are medium sized Antilopes but African hunting dogs are also able to kill larger Antilopes and even Zebras. But they hunt for those animals just if no other prey is available, since their risk of being injured themselves is quite large.

African hunting dogs inhabit the African savannas. The packs roam through large areas without claiming a certain territory. The fact that the dogs need such large areas with a lot of game to meet their food demands, makes them very vulnerable towards human originated changes of landscapes. Outside the national parks large areas become more and more rare. African hunting dogs are regarded to be very endangered nowadays.

This article was originally published at magazine.naturspot.de. Link to the original article

Facts about the African wild dog

12 African wild dogs are nomadic, highly social canids and form packs of up to 28 individuals with an average of around 8 - 12 members (Fig.

com "Lycaon Pictus is just plain weird, and that's weird in a good way one minute and weird in a what-the-fuck?

Physical Description The African wild dog is a medium sized canine with a head and body length of 30–40 inches, and a white-tipped tail of 12–16 inches.

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is an endangered canid species, which formerly occupied most of the non-forested areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

The body length of Lycaon pictus is between 75 and 110 cm, the tail is between 30 and 40 cm long, and they range in weight from 18 to 36 kg. (Full text)

The African Hunting Dog (Lycaon pictus) is a mammal of the Canidae family. (Full text)

The African Hunting Dog (Lycaon pictus) is a mammal of the Canidae family, and thus related to the domestic dog. (Full text)

African Wild Dog is Africa's most endangered carnivore, find out more information by reading this article. (Full text)

African Wild Dog Lycaon pictus Endangered Although similar in appearance to hyenas, African wild dogs are nevertheless true wild canidae. (Full text)

Long hated for their disgusting killing habits, the African Wild Dogs are a unique creature in the dog world. (Full text)

The African hunting dog, Lycaon pictus, is a wild CARNIVORE in the DOG family, Canidae, order Carnivora. (Full text)

The African wild dog is nomadic, and has a home range of several hundred square kilometres in vegetation such as that found in the Lower Zambezi National Park. (Full text)

With only 5,000 surviving, the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is one of the world's most endangered large carnivores--and one of the most remarkable. (Full text)

It has been said that African wild dogs are the most social of all mammals, never living apart from a pack at any stage in (Full text)

Distribution: African wild dogs are never even locally abundant, and their nomadic movements make even simple estimates of their distribution difficult. (Full text)

Temperament The African Wild Dog is not a domesticated dog. (Full text)

Printouts The Cape Hunting Dog (or African Wild Dog) is a rare wild dog that wanders the plains, grasslands and lowland forests of Africa. (Full text)

</table> The African Hunting Dog (Lycaon pictus) is a mammal of the Canidae family, thus related to the domestic dog. (Full text)

The african wild dog is not a common pet that you will find in a kennel or in rescues. (Full text)

African wild dogs are not commonly found in rescues as puppies or adults. (Full text)

The african wild dog is an endangered species of dogs with not many photos available. (Full text)

STATUS: The African wild dog is listed by (Full text)

African wild dogs are the size of medium domestic dogs. (Full text)

African wild dogs are the continent's most endangeredpredator . (Full text)

The African Wild Dog is also known as the Cape Hunting Dog or the Painted Dog. (Full text)

Links